City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody. I'd like to call to order the 1,635th regular meeting of the Thornton City Council. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone in the audience to please turn off or silence your electronic devices. The audience seating area is provided for observing council meetings from a seated position only. Audience members wishing to stand must stand the aisle along the rear wall opposite the council dais also if there is any anyone in the audience who needs assistance in listening and or participating in the meeting and has not indicated so on the sign-up sheet please raise your hand and a staff member will provide assistance to you number two is Pledge of Allegiance will stand up for the Pledge of Allegiance Item three is a moment of silence. Please join me in a moment of silence. Item four is our land acknowledgement, and Councilmember Alge is going to read our land acknowledgement for us tonight.

Thank you, Madam Mayor Pro Tem. The City of Thornton respectfully acknowledges the land on which we stand is the traditional territory of the Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, Lakota, Navajo, Pueblo, Shoshone, and Southern Ute tribes and nations who were the original stewards of this land. We honor the history, culture, and contributions both past and present of these indigenous nations and tribes. We pay respect to their ancestors, elders, and present-day members and extend our gratitude to the indigenous peoples for their ongoing care and stewardship of land, water, and resources. We also recognize the lasting impact, sorry about that. Oh, sorry about that, yes. I had to scroll real quick, so I'll start again. We pay respect to their ancestors, elders, and present-day community members and extend our gratitude to the indigenous peoples for their ongoing care and stewardship of the land, water, and resources. We also recognize the lasting impact of colonialism, forced removals, and continued injustices that have affected indigenous communities throughout history and into the present. We also acknowledge the labor of enslaved Africans and their descendants who worked this stolen land for the colonists and who continue to disproportionately face economic oppression, racism, violence, and exploitation. May this acknowledgement serve as a reminder of our responsibility to be mindful and respectful of the land, its history, and the indigenous communities who call Colorado home, and to use it to guide our policies and decision-making for the people of Thornton.

Thank you. Item five is council roll. Clerk, will you please call the roll of council?

Mayor Coleman. Council Member Acunto.

Here.

Council Member Algae.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Ayala? Here. Council Member Byrd?

Here.

Council Member Martinez?

Here.

Council Member Morris?

Here.

Council Member Russell?

Here.

Council Member Salazar? Here. A quorum is present, Your Honor.

Thank you. Item six is approval of the agenda. Are there any staff changes to the agenda tonight?

We do not have any proposed changes to the agenda. Thank you.

Thank you. Item seven is presentations. Item 7A is a resolution commending Peter Duong for his service on the Thornton Arts, Sciences, and Humanities Council Incorporated Board of Directors. Who would like to introduce this item? Councilmember Chris Russell.

Thank you. I'd like to introduce a resolution commending Peter Duong for his service on Thornton Arts, Sciences, and Humanities Council Inc. Board of Directors. Whereas Peter long served as a member of the thorn art science and. Humanities Council in cash co order directors from February 11th, 2025 to June 8th, 2026. and whereas Mr long helped update cash goes bylaws goals, policies and roles to support the presentation of arts. and culture programs and events in the Thornton area. And whereas Mr. Duong participated in Tashko retreats held in March and May of 2025 that confirmed Tashko's role as the city's advisory body for arts and culture. And whereas Mr. Duong participated in interviewing and recommending applicants to fill vacancies and supported the nomination of Tashko members. And whereas Mr. Duong provided financial, and on-site support for tashko fundraising activities at annual tashko community events and whereas mr duong's service to the on the tashko board of directors has been a valuable contribution to the city of thornton now therefore it be it resolved by the city council of the city of thornton colorado has followed the thornton count thor that city council wishes to express peter duong its gratitude and appreciation for his time involvement knowledge of and distinguished service to the thornton arts sciences and Humanities Council, Inc., Board of Directors, and to the citizens of Thornton, and I ask for its approval.

Second.

It has been moved and seconded to approve the resolution. Are there any other discussions? Oh, yes, Council Member Russell.

Yes, Peter, I remember years ago, I was also just getting going into city involvement and that's when you reached out and you were just looking to be a good resident, trying to be involved and you were open to so many opportunities, whether it's a council role or serving on this board or any of the other boards. So it's been a pleasure seeing you just grow in your involvement with the city. And I commend you for doing so at such a young age. There's not. A lot of youth, or at least I don't believe there's enough youth that actually takes time to get involved with their cities. They just get busy living lives and you're doing the same. However, you're adding a little extra to your plate. So really appreciate the relationship, the communication that we've had over the years. your intent to get involved and then follow through to actually get involved so uh we very much so i know i can speak for the rest of the council as well but we appreciate you dedicating some time and growing yourself within our city much appreciated thank you council member lg

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. And Peter, congratulations again. Well done. You're one of our rising stars here in Thornton. Though we're bummed that you're leaving Tashko, we still know you're going to be very much involved in our community in more ways than one. And I am honored and humbled to call you my friend. And if you ever need anything, you let me know. I'm always here for you. Thank you.

Council Member Martinez.

Thank you, Peter, for your service to the City of Thornton. I know Tashko is not an easy board to be on. There's so many activities, duties, strategic planning, you name it, and you've excelled at all of those. i echo the comments from my colleagues but i just want to also express my gratitude for your willingness to serve and i look forward to what's next for you in the city of thornton so i encourage you to you know take some time think about how you want to continue your service and we will continue to be grateful for everything that you do councillor morris

Peter, I just want to say, echo the comments from fellow council members. Thanks for your service. I know it takes a lot for citizens to step up and serve on a board, so appreciate you doing that. Best wishes for the future.

Okay, well, I'll save my comments for when we present your plaque here at the dais. But at this time, can the clerk please pull the council? Council, please cast your votes.

Motion passed unanimously, Your Honor.

Thank you. Peter, would you like to join me up here in front of the dais? So this is the first time I've done this, and I get to do it with Peter, so I'm pretty happy. I have known Peter for a while. I think I was the one that did the nudge nudge to join Tashco and help out. And it's been an honor and a privilege to see your dedicated service to the city and the capacity of Tashco. I know from personal experience, it's a very time intensive board. It can take up a lot of weekends, evenings, and discussion time on the telephone with your colleagues on the board. And it's nice to see all you guys here too. Really, I think the thing about Peter is that being just a young leader, he's not only taken on the leadership in Tashko and was a great example of how that should look as a board member in our city, but he's also been a bigger leader throughout the greater community of Thornton. And we're just incredibly proud of the work that Peter's done and been a great example to our community. Community is specifically for young people but a couple of things that I want to know is I tasked Peter with giving doing a resolution kind of presentation for Asian Heritage Month and he stepped up to the task and that was really informative and amazing and overall just the work you've done has been great so thank you so much for stepping up and being on this board and I look forward to see what you do in the future.

Thank you.

And so here, we'll present this to you, and we'll have the rest of council come up, and we'll take a picture with you.

Okay. Madam Mayor? Yes? One technical issue. We need a motion to approve the agenda tonight, a second, and a vote.

Oh, yes. Apologies. Can we have a motion to approve the agenda tonight?

Second. I'll make a motion. I'll second. Sorry. Okay.

Can we poll the council?

Council, please cast your votes. Motion passed unanimously, Your Honor. Thank you.

Okay. Our second item is resolution conveying gratitude to the City Council's gratitude and appreciation to Kent Moorman on his retirement from the city. Who would like to introduce this item? And I believe we have Justin doing that tonight.

Okay, I'd like to introduce a resolution conveying the city council's gratitude and appreciation to Carlton Kent Moorman on his retirement from the city. Whereas Kent Moorman has served the city as a regular full-time employee for 25, almost 26 years in a professional and loyal manner. And whereas Kent began employment on July 31st, 2000 as a traffic engineer, was appointed on April 26th, 2015 to regional transportation engineer And whereas Kent received multiple distinguished service awards over the many years of service to include, but not limited to, the iWatch Speed Awareness Team, 120th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard Intersection Improvement Team, an 88th Stamp, and 104th Stamp Study Team. And whereas Kent received a Team Distinguished Service Award in 2015 for his exemplary work on Outreach Team, and whereas Kent received a Team Distinguished Service Award in 2015 for his coordination of efforts on the Community Facilities Plan Team, and whereas Kent received a Distinguished Service Award in 2018 for his assistance on the Topgolf Development Team, and whereas Kent has approached his job in a professional, skillful, and dedicated manner with a strong commitment to serve the community and whereas the council wishes to recognize kent for the contributions he made over the years of service to the city now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of thornton colorado as follows this that the city council hereby recognizes the commitment dedication and loyalty of Charlton Kent Mormon and conveys its earnest appreciation and thanks for the many contributions He has made during his 25 years as an employee of the city and I move for its approval second

It has been moved and seconded to approve the resolution. Are there any, anybody would like to discuss this? And first we have Council Member Martinez since he introduced the resolution.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. So Kent and I first met, I think it was in 2015, the year he was getting all those Distinguished Service Awards, when I was an employee as an economist at Dr. Cogg. I remember meeting Kent in one of the many meetings we had, I think it was around the stamp meeting and i was thoroughly impressed with his breadth of knowledge not just over the city of thornton but transportation planning in general we were grateful to have your advice and your input at dr cogg and fast forward nine years later on City Council. I got to have the honor of working with you on various boards and commissions. I appreciate all the help that you've given me as I served on the Dr. Cogg Board, as well as the NATO Board. I can't tell you, it's already been a month and I already miss your updates and reports to help me get a handle on everything that's going on. But your service goes way beyond that, Kent. I think that it was very clear with the work that you did that you truly care about the city of Thornton, the North Metro region, the state of Colorado, your country. You worked so hard on very difficult transportation issues. And I know that, you know, as a council member, I could always count on your expertise and knowledge when it came to transportation issues so if ever I had a question on you know it's a very complicated topic too there's all kinds of moving pieces and levers and I always knew I could count on going to Kent to get the real truth and to get the better understanding of how Thornton sits in this whole transportation mess that we have in the state of Colorado and what I can do. You always help guide me on what I could do as a council member to better advocate for our city. And so thank you for your commitment and dedication to the city. It was an honor working alongside you. Although briefly when I was at Dr. Cogg, it was an even bigger honor working with you when I serve as a city council member. So thank you for everything you've done for the city and for the region. And like I said, I already miss you. I'm gonna continue to miss you. And I just wish you and your family well.

Council Member Russell.

Kent, um, you know, there's. I'll, I'll start with the city council members. We, we serve on many different boards. And I don't know many of the residents realize that, but as you finish your campaigning as a newly elected, you're drinking from a fire hydrant. There's just so much to absorb. And council member Martinez was touching on just that depth of knowledge that you have didn't really know what to expect when I got on the highway 7. Or over 470 or any of these and the reality is, is that. You take a very tender approach to bring us up to speed to catch us up on, you know, the previous meetings. So that we're well informed and that we can be accessible, successful and a good contributor to those boards. All that's made possible with you, because there would have been so many questions that I would have had probably unanswered and not known who to go to. But your attendance was always there. You even volunteered to speak on behalf if we weren't feeling up to it. But you go above and beyond. And I think that's just a small nod to the successful career you had. So you will be sorely missed. And I do wish you success. the most enjoyment in your retirement that you could possibly have because you are a kind soul and you're very good to us council members and making sure that we do our jobs to the best of ability. So thank you and happy retirement buddy.

Councillor Morris.

Again, good evening. And I want to say our first interaction actually was several years before City Council. We've had the pleasure to work together for just a few months as I'm new. But we actually, believe it or not, I reached out about an e-bike related question. a few years ago and you were very helpful then and you of course have been very helpful in the first few months i've been in council so you have a record of service to be proud of you've done a lot for the city thank you for your service to the city thanks for the help that you've offered council over the years i wish you best in your next adventures council member bird

want to echo the sentiment there is 25 years is a long time to um really build up the reputation that you have in this city and the city's gonna have a massive hole with you leaving so we're greatly appreciative with all the support and the structure and stuff you put in place for us um all of the uh service that you put into it does not go unnoticed and we're greatly appreciative so thank you so much um And I will equally say that I hope you enjoy your next endeavor. I'm sure your wife's going to be very happy about you not coming into work and having a lot more fun.

Council Member Alge.

Thank you, Madam Mayor Pro Tem. Kent, you know, what can I say about you? You know, we kind of met in passing over the years since I moved here, you know, before I decided to take the leap and run for the seat and be up here and Um, and you're definitely a rock star in this, in the state. No question about it. Your knowledge of transportation, uh, is practically unparalleled. Um, but you've made a positive impact on so many lives and my deepest thanks to you for that. And also for helping me, you know, on the NATO board, you know, helping me, giving me advice and, and keep me updated on what's going on and helping with my transition. not just to this seat in council, but also to NADA, is, I cannot thank you enough for that. You are absolutely amazing. I know I'm retired myself. I know it's like, it is greener on the other side of the fence. I mean, we're going to miss you here, but still, it is very well deserved, sir. You have done above and beyond for our community and for our state, and enjoy your retirement, and we are always here for you if you need anything. Thank you.

Clerk, can you please pull the council?

Council, please cast your votes.

Motion passed unanimously, Your Honor. Awesome. Thank you. At this time, I'd like to ask Kent and his family and Brett Henry to join me at the dais. Here we go. Thank you. I think I got my fingerprints on it. I'm sorry. It's so shiny.

One of my new duties is making sure the house is clean. You can sparkle that for a while.

Well, Kent, congratulations on your retirement. One thing I can say is that for the most part, I think we have some of the safest pretty you know nice streets in the city of thornton and i've lived here almost my whole life and it's just nice to know that somebody like you had been working on it for so long and i can't imagine what it's like to know as much as you do about how traffic engineering works and to hear over the 25 years all the residents that come and bring you this input that's probably you know everybody thinks they know how to do city workers jobs and i always think You guys know how to make it happen. You guys know what's really going on and how things work. And I just have so much respect for that. So I just want to say thank you for your attentiveness over the years to all the matters in the city as far as like our traffic, our streets, our roads. And just thank you for all your work. Thank you. Thank you. And at this time, I'd like to ask, oh, actually, Brad, would you like to say something? Thank you.

So Kent doesn't know this story, but he was a traffic engineer for 15 years. And when I first started with the city back in the mid-2000s, I asked somebody when I first started, I'm like, who's our traffic engineer here? They're like, oh, it's Kent. You want to meet him? No, no, no. I was just curious who it was. And later that day, I hit a red light, and I was like, Kent. But over the years, I've got to say, that greatly decreased. And when I asked staff, I said, especially the current traffic engineer now, I'm like, well, what do you really remember from Kent? What did he do outside of the resolution with all the items that were included in there? And you were instrumental in really starting to establish a citywide fiber network, not only connecting city facilities, but along 120th and Washington, I think is where it started, but then connecting all our traffic signals, which then let us time our signals a lot better, adjust them in real time through the Dr. Cogg, Singulization studies and everything else and so I got to say over the years there were a lot less kents and after 2015 it turned into Daryl but But I gotta say they kept decreasing over the years But really as everybody else here has said you really have made an impact a lasting impact on Thornton I appreciate all the service that you provided. So, thank you. Thank you Sure

It's been an honor and a privilege to serve the residents and businesses of the city of Thornton and to work alongside an excellent staff implementing the policies and procedures that council would like to see done. And we've come a long way. When I started, we had 85,000 people. I think we're around 156 plus or minus. I'm hearing four up there, 153, okay. but we've had several of those. But it's been an honor, and for the most part, it's been a pleasant experience working with our residents. As traffic engineers, it's very hard sometimes to say no, but you have to learn to say no. So when you hear Darrell say no, it's because he has a good reason and you can stay yelling, ask why. So pass that along. The last few years working with our council and getting to know them has been a privilege and an honor also. And to provide input into their decisions has been a great honor also. So again, thank you and I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Now I'll ask the council to come up so we can take a picture. Okay, next we have item 7C. It's a resolution declaring August 2026 as National Immunization Awareness Month in the City of Thornton, Colorado. John Alge is going to read that resolution for us.

Thank you, Madam Mayor Pro Tem. I would like to introduce a resolution declaring August 2026 as National Immunization Awareness Month in the City of Thornton. whereas National Immunization Awareness Month is an annual observance to highlight the importance of vaccination for people of all ages, and whereas many students begin their school year in the month of August and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, encourages parents and caregivers to use this time as a reminder to ensure all immunizations, physicals, and dental health checkups are up to date, and whereas on-time immunizations can assist with protection against serious diseases, and whereas city council advocates for the physical and mental well-being of all students, families, and staff, and whereas city council acknowledges that the academic success of the community's youth is strongly linked with their health, and whereas it is encouraged to not delay getting care for any health conditions, including vaccinations, well-being checkups, and dental appointments, and whereas vaccination information, including suggested immunization by age level, can be found on the CDC website. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Thornton, Colorado as follows. The City Council hereby declares August 2026 as National Immunization Awareness Month in the City of Thornton, Colorado, and I move for its approval. Second.

It hasn't been moved and seconded to approve the resolution. Are there any discussions? And Councilmember Elge, you have the option to go first since you introduced the...

Thank you again, Madam Mayor Pro Tem. Yes, this is a very important topic. Obviously, immunizations are very important. If we weren't aware of that, we were during the COVID-19 pandemic. Immunizations do save lives. I'm an Army veteran, so I have had more immunizations in me than I know, but still is why I'm here and why I'm healthy at the ripe young age of 62. So I am very honored and humbled to introduce this resolution tonight and make sure families that you get your kiddos vaccinated. And that's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you. Yeah, I brought this resolution forward as a school teacher. Being in the classroom for the many months moving into August and the rest of the year, we have a lot of kids coming, a very communal type of environment, and Just want to make sure folks are remembering. It's a good time of the year to remember to get your immunizations when you need them and get other things taken care of as far as health care to move into the new school year. Clerk, can you please poll the council? Council, please cast your votes.

Motion passed unanimously, Your Honor.

Thank you. Item 8 is audience participation. This is a time for members of the community to speak on any item that is not on the agenda as a public hearing or is going to be on a public hearing in the future. Pursuant to City Council rules of order and procedures, speaking time is limited to three minutes per person with a one hour limit on the segment of the agenda. In-person speakers will be heard first, followed by remote speakers registered before the end of the in-person comment segment. Residents of the city, as indicated on the sign-up sheet, will be given preference in the order heard in each segment. The podium located on the dais in the council chambers must be used to offer public comment during audience participation or public hearing sections in the meeting agenda. In the event of a physical inability or preference, the public may offer comment by microphone while seated in the audience in the seating area. At no time shall public comment be made while traversing the chambers. clerk is is there anybody who's been who has signed up to speak under audience participation tonight yes your honor there are two individuals in person and one online um okay can you um let's see here can we hear the first person the first person is tom lampo no address provided

Thornton, I hope all are well. Please remove your hateful land statement. It's white hate. I'm Tom Lampo. I want to continue speaking about Syda Grundy, who misleads many and helps you to form your hateful rhetoric. You fail to mention in your statement any of the items I've brought before you in more than a year. I have been speaking about them because you can't. John, Chris, and Justin despise the truth. They hide behind their lie because the agenda is more important than the truth. White hate rules your world. Two weeks ago, I exposed more mistruths by Ms. Grundy, where she stated there is no race except Europeans who kidnapped and transported human beings in order to enslave them and their offspring for life. Many Indian nations just... did just this right here in the United States of America. The kidnapping and transportation of human was on this land before the Europeans. And you failed to mention this in your white hate statement, that you want this type of thought to guide Thornton's policies and decision making. The majority of you before me are definitely a special type of people. The Arab slave trade lasted some 1,300 years, is also an example of this type of slave trade. As many as 17 million individuals were trafficked, and slave people from West and Central Africa were marched across the Sahara Desert to North African markets in Morocco, Egypt, and Libya. The mortality rate is estimated at 75% before making it to market. Islamic law states that if two enslaved individuals produce a child, that child is a slave. So here again we have transported, inherited slavery. Some of the enslaved females were sex slaves and served as concubines in the harems for wealthy Arab elites. Some of the males were castrated and served as harem guards or eunuchs. This practice resulted in a higher mortality rate. Castration occurred in medical... cold camps outside the Muslim territories because Islamic law prohibits the mutilation and castration of slaves. Conditions were not sterile, and these individuals lacked medical care. Young boys and men bled to death or died from severe post-operative infections. The mortality rate is estimated as high as 90%. The demand for castrated males was high, and they were valued at approximately seven times the price of non-castrated males. Ms. Gundry can't recognize these non-white nations or races because she wants to spread white hate to an audience like the majority of you before me. She found her audience, and you have become her disciples. Stop spreading the gospel of white hate. Enjoy the rest of your night.

Can we have the next speaker, please? Luz Pinado, 4210 East 100th Avenue, number 642, who will be assisted by a language interpreter. As they are coming down to the podium, I will call out to our language interpretation provider.

Welcome to Language Line Solutions. Please enter your six-digit client ID. For Spanish, press one. For other.

Hello, good evening. Thank you for calling Lausanne Solutions. This is Ursula. Hi there. 421-089-OB is fashion chapter today. I am trying to survey this committee more for training and quality assurance purposes. May I please know how can I help you?

hi this is crystal surgeon deputy city clerk for the city of thornton we are currently in the city council meeting and we have an individual who would like to provide public comment to the council at the conclusion of their comments they there may be a response or instructions provided to the individual from council thank you can dainty bill humor right now

Buenas noches.

Hola, ¿qué tal? Excelente noche. Yo voy a ser su intérprete durante esta llamada. Todo lo que usted me diga va a ser interpretado y esta llamada puede ser monitoreada con fines de calidad de entrenamiento. ¿Cuál es su comentario?

Primero que nada, felicitar a las personas que se están retirando y que nos dieron un buen servicio de corazón y de responsabilidad.

Can you hear me, miss?

We can hear you.

Oh, thank you very much. First of all, I just want to thank all of the people who are leaving for the great service that they gave us and all of their responsibility and for professionals.

Vengo aquí, como en otras ocasiones, a volver a decir y a reportar que no se ha hecho nada, ni se ha solucionado nada. Y que el compromiso de la violación que yo, en septiembre del 2024, no se ha solucionado. Hace dos meses y medio se reunieron conmigo. No se reúnen conmigo, solucionen los problemas, no favorezcan a los negocios.

The reason why I'm here is because I would like to make a comment regarding the necessity that nothing has been solved yet regarding the compromise that was done under the violation that I suffered in September 2024 regarding the situation. It's been months, two months and a half already that they have gathered with me, but there's no solution yet to the problems. And I was wondering if there's any favor to the businesses in particular.

Tengo seis días reportando todos los días, llamando al departamento de policía para reportar las infracciones que se ven todos los días. Yo veo que sigue igual. Antes de llegar a esta audiencia, en menos de 11 minutos, tomé 10 infracciones en tiempo real. Entonces, tengo las pruebas. Yo no veo que han hecho ningún tipo de trabajo. Cuando tengo aquí la carta de compromiso de la señora John Coleman, que se iba a solucionar en agosto del 2025. Escribió esta carta que se iba a solucionar. Vamos a cumplir un año y los problemas siguen al día a día. Al contrario, yo he visto que buscan cómo encontrarme culpable de cualquier delito menor para favorecer al negocio. Y tengo pruebas de ello. Les he mandado correos electrónicos de las faltas. Les he mandado, tengo las llamadas que he hecho en estos transcurso. Ahorita en la mediodía, En cuanto el negocio habló para que fueran, que porque yo estaba intimidándolos, fueron. Pero cuando yo hablo para reportar que están violando los códigos de la ciudad, no acuden. Yo puedo probar lo contrario de lo que estaba diciendo la persona de la administración. Yo mandé un correo electrónico avisándole al propietario que iba a pedir pruebas de lo que me estaban... of what they were accusing me of. So that's why I told them that they were going to prove to me that they were not going to intimidate me with the authorities, that they were going to prove to me what my rape was that I had committed at that time, so that they would call the authorities. Because they use you to intimidate me.

Regarding this situation, as far as I understand, we have already talked regarding the possibility that there are some other people committing the same infractions or violations who are not getting punished or receiving the same penalties as I. On the contrary, on the past times, I have even taken time and noticed several infractions being committed on the same particular manner, but never someone accusing them or using the state services in order to threaten them as I have suffered. I sent an email letting know the owner regarding the proofs of what was happening and what I was being accused of. And I took the time to make the statement that I would not be left, let them threat me regarding this because they have been using the authorities and the state services in order to threat me for a particular violation that I did not commit. And at the time, they called the authority in order to use the services to frighten me or scare me off.

The other day, they, for example, attended to my own address with the excuse that the cat in particular was under property of someone else. Although

there's a lot of cats in the street.

That being the case at the time, I took the time to call the cops, and I took pictures of it, and there was more than 30 violations in less than half an hour. Tengo las pruebas aquí en tiempo real.

The three minutes are up now. Was there anything else to wrap up?

No, gracias.

No, thank you. Can we get a member of staff to follow up with Ms. Luz and her concerns?

Yes, we will.

Thank you.

Was there anybody else in the... Mayor Pro Tem Ayala, I'd like to ask something else of staff in addition to that, if you'd give me a chance to speak.

Not right now. We have to move on with the agenda. We have to move on with the council, with the comments.

Okay.

Was there anybody else in the audience who needed a chance to speak? Or didn't know they needed to sign up? Was there anybody online that...

can go ahead and go up to the hi sorry i do know you have to sign up to speak but i wasn't planning on speaking so my name is jesse myers i live in ward three i'm a member of tashco but i'm speaking on my personal behalf and i just wanted to say when i came in here and i read the agenda i was really excited to see the council comments is back after audience participation, and that was something that I had mentioned a few months ago, and I haven't been back yet. So it's good to see it's back, and I wanted to say thank you because it's an important part that I'd like to see and not see it late at night. So thank you. Thank you.

Was there anybody online who?

We do have somebody that signed up online. We can't see that person, but we would like to call on the individual.

That individual is Judy Roman, 12711 Colorado Boulevard, Unit 520. We still don't see that person nor have any hands been raised.

Okay. I think there were a few council members that had comments, but we can save those to council comment time. Okay.

Excuse me. Can we get clarification on that? Because there's been many times where a resident speaks and then we're able to just give some clarity on the direction. That's been the process almost the entire time I've been on council. So I'm curious as to why I had my request to speak as well, too. So it was concerning the last speaker. Can we have that clarification? Are we not allowed to do that, considering we've done that for years?

It's clarification of the...

to help give direction to staff in addressing the residents' comments.

Okay, yeah, we can do that.

Okay, I know comes from Martinez want to speak to, but I had my request to speak. So that's the only reason why I'm bringing it up. Um, the ask was going to be is yes, that if staff could help address. The issues that she's brought forward, but I'd like to go a step further and just ask that at the next planning session that maybe we can get a list of these issues brought forth because it has been. Probably close to a year now that she's taking time to come in and through the translation. I don't. Actually know where we are in terms of a progress report on these issues and I want to be respectful of her time and coming in and being fully informed if we could have just that update or. Where we are as a city, and maybe addressing those issues for clarity of the council, because the translation. Doesn't make it as effective as some of the other residents who speak and I want to be fair to her just because she's speaking Spanish instead of English that she does get the time of the council in any direction or inputs that we can do to help solve these issues. Because this has been very long standing at this point. And I think it's just owed to the council at this point to have a better understanding. and then we could proceed forward and maybe resolve some of these collectively. Thank you.

Council Member Martinez?

Thank you, Council Member Russell, for starting that conversation. I had generally the exact same points. This has been ongoing for a year, and it's hard for the council to track all the different interactions that the city has had with Ms. Peinado. And I would just like for... I was going to ask rather than planning session, but I'm okay with the planning session. But in addition to the planning session, could the staff please send out a summary of just the different interactions and resolutions or discussions that you have had with Ms. Peinado about all the different issues she's brought forward over the last year for all the same reasons that Councilmember Russell just stated?

Can I just ask? We have provided reports to the council previously summarizing concerns, interactions, but we can update those prior reports that the council has already received.

Can I ask that we get those in an email? We've, council member Algie and I have met with the resident for a very long time, so just want to make sure that we're moving along. okay it looks like um okay we're moving to council comments and we'll start with ward four tonight council member morris

Good evening, everyone. Just wanted to, first of all, thanks for everyone that showed up for public comment. Looking forward to seeing some of those issues getting addressed. I do want to have a couple of thank yous or shout outs I want to give first. Thank you to Allegro Coffee Company. This last week, they had a group of volunteers who helped regravel a portion of the trail at the East Lake Nature Preserve. They installed about 46 tons of crusher fine on the trails out there. So with our park team and the volunteers, they actually were able to resurface about half of the trail loop. And so at the same time last year, the same group from Allegro Coffee was able to do the same work on the other half of the trail. So thank you, Allegro. And of course, thank you to our parks team for helping coordinate that. Also, there was a neat event recently called the State Civics Bee, not a spelling bee, civics. I wanted to congratulate Peter. He's actually a student from Stargate Charter School. He competed in the state competition with 25 other middle schoolers from across the state, and he won. So our State Civics Bee champion is from Stargate Charter, which is really cool. So the Civics Bee is a competition. sixth, seventh, and eighth graders to think critically about civic issues, develop solutions for their communities, and showcase their knowledge in a fast-paced quiz and public speaking format. Inspires them to learn about American democracy and to get involved in becoming leaders in their community. And if there's an opportunity, I'd actually love to learn more about the issues they're actually addressing and some of those maybe creative solutions that they have been presenting. See what we can use here. So we are proud of Daniel. and, of course, of the Stargate Charter School community and the excellence they continue to set and the example they continue to set. One thing I do want to correct for our local media outlets, though, if you look up this event, the state civics bee and who won, they will say that Stargate Charter School is located in Broomfield. And that is not correct. Stargate Charter School is in Thornton, Colorado. So I wanted to clarify that. Can we shift? gears for a second. We're going to have a photo, if Crystal can do that, throw a photo up on here. All right, so a photo of my wife's on the right, and we've got Rod and Lori Snydel on the left. So I wanted to take a brief moment tonight to honor and remember Rod and Lori Snydel and the Snydel family's long connection to Eastlake, and of course, Greater Thornton. The Snydell family was part of the East Lake community long before Thornton existed as a city. Their story is a part of the history of the area many of us now call home. Rod's grandfather, E.J. Snydell, began their legacy in the area in the 1920s when they moved home to Second Street, converting it from an old boarding house. The Snydell family would go on to play An important role in Eastlake for decades, E.J. Snydel operated a grocery store known as the Thrift Mercantile, and Rod's father, Howard Snydel, operated the Farmers Cooperative Elevator, what we know as the grain elevator there in Eastlake. And then later, the W.M. Hopkins Lumber and Mercantile Company in Eastlake, which is located at the corner of 1st Street and Lake Avenue. Rod and Lori continue that family connection to the area, including through the lumberyard, which they operated until it was sold in the 1990s. Several years ago, and this is this photo, Brie and I had the privilege of inviting Rod and Lori back to their former home since they were still Thornton residents and lived about a mile away. We were able to sit with them, hear stories about the house, learn more about the history of Eastlake. and better understand what life was like in the community before it became the Thornton we know today. And, of course, this visit meant a lot to us. Unfortunately, Lori passed away last year in July, and Rod recently passed away as well. Bree and I were grateful to attend Rod's funeral last week and honor his family, a family that helped shape the history, of course, of Eastlake and the area. And, of course, I share this tonight because local history is not only found in buildings, maps, or old photographs. It's carried by families, stories, and the people who built the community before many of us ever arrived in Thornton. The Snydals were prominent civic leaders and business operators in Eastlake for many years, and I just want us to remember that. Tonight, I want to honor Rod and Lori Snydal, their family, and the legacy they leave in Eastlake and Greater Thornton. May we continue to remember and respect the people and families like them who care for and work this land we now sit on and help build the foundation of our community that we see today. Thank you.

Council Member Russell?

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem, Council, residents, and staff. Recently, many of the council members had an opportunity to attend the Thornton Area Chamber Awards at Coors Field, where we celebrate the year's outstanding award recipients while enjoying a Rockies game. It was a great evening recognizing the businesses, organizations, and individuals who make such a positive impact on our community. I also had the privilege of touring the Aurora Regional Navigation Campus. Seeing firsthand the collaborative efforts to address homelessness through coordinated services, housing support, behavioral health resources, and workforce assistance was both informative and inspiring. It's encouraging to see the innovative regional partnership working to provide pathways toward long-term stability for those in need. Um, last Thursday, we wrapped up another fantastic work for rhythms and reels event featuring lucky catch. Thank you to everyone who came out to enjoy the evening a great music food and fellowship. It was a wonderful to see our neighbors gathering together and strengthening the sense of community that makes Thornton such a special place to live. And finally, I wanted to take a moment to recognize two gentlemen that I've gotten to know over the last few years, Coach Rob and Coach V, and for their incredible work that they do with our veterans through a PGA HOPE program at no cost to the participants. Their dedication goes far beyond teaching the game of golf. They provide camaraderie, encouragement, and a welcoming environment where veterans can connect with one another while making the sport accessible and inclusive for disabled veterans. Their commitment to serving those who have served our country is truly commendable, and we are grateful for the positive impact that they continue to make on our community. If you are a veteran, I do highly encourage you to check out the program and spread the word. And honestly, I can't say enough. I've been able to participate now the last two or three years, and The things that you see out there in the practice facilities is remarkable. To give an example, there's one veteran with one arm, and he can hit the ball better than probably most of us in this room. But that opportunity to not be excluded from a sport is the reality of what these coaches are doing. And being a veteran myself, it's just a... a very welcoming great environment kind of takes you back a little bit to when you are in the service being able to share stories and likenesses that we all share but oddly it's a game that brings us together now 20 years later so again thank you to coach rob coach v for all the work they're doing it uh with the veteran community this program has exploded uh across the country and um very pleased to have been a part of it in the early years so please do check it out

Council Member Acunto.

No report. I'll defer to the wonderful Councilman Byrd.

Council Member Byrd.

Thank you, sir. Not a whole lot from me as well this week, but I am looking forward to Thursday's meeting at Troen's. And then also some big news coming from our ward next week is going to be the Anything Nature Library opening up, so really looking forward to that. I know that my daughter is going to be dying to get in there and see everything as well, so the kids are going to be really excited, and I think just as much as some of the adults. but we got a chance to look at it when they were doing the construction, and it's an incredible facility, and I can't wait to see what it looks like now that it's completed.

Council Member Alge?

Oh, I am up. Okay, thank you. All right. Good evening, everyone. It's great to be back here on the dais and completely healthy. So I've attended many City of Thornton events since my last time here on the dais. I'm just going to rattle them off. Ward 3 and Ward 4 Rhythms and Reels, Ward 3 Community Meeting, Ribbon Cuttings in Ward 1 at the Red Point Center, Deja Foods in Wing Shack, and K1 Speed in Ward 4. Check out Councilman Morrison-Russell's video. It's pretty amazing, by the way. Sashko's 90th Anniversary Bash. Coffee with Councilmember Morris at Cafe Vietnamese Cafe. Thornton Area Chamber of Commerce Illuminate Gala. Our Juneteenth, Pride, and Fourth of July celebrations. The grand opening of the Grumpy Egg Cafe expansion in Ward 2. The Thornton Active Adult Advisory Board Community Barbecue. The opening reception for Christina Del Hoyo at Oz Gallery last Friday. Ward 2 Community Cleanup with my colleague Mayor Pro Tem Ayala at Grandview Ponds. Tour of the Aurora Regional Navigational Campus. Thank you, Jessica, for arranging that. National Bike to Work Day at Platte River Trailhead Park. Chris, great job on that, as always, along with Vince. I also attended my first Colorado Municipal League Conference last month, which was held in Westminster. I had the opportunity to engage with members of our senior staff and build our relationships. I marched in both the Denver Juneteenth and Denver Pride Parades. I attended both the One Colorado Pink Party and Cobalt Advocates Awards Ceremony. I also attended the inaugural Colorado Working Families Party Conference this past weekend in Commerce City. This morning, I participated at the Protect Your Vote rally, which was held at the Denver PNDC. This rally is a coordinated effort by the American Poster Workers Union, National Association of Layer Carriers, and the National Poster Mail Handlers Union to secure the financial future of the USPS and protect vote by mail. I want to thank again the Thornton Parks team for stepping up for our community at every event. And I want to specifically thank both Belia Dameron and Bob Keys for helping make our community cleanup a success. We filled up the truck and had 25 neighbors join Mayor Pro Tem Ayala and myself. Thank you. And speaking of community cleanup, Mayor Pro Tem and I are arranging our next one. Our tentative date is Saturday, October 10th at 9 a.m. It's not official yet, but we are working out the details with Thornton Parks. Also, War Two Neighbors, you have two chances in the next week to hang out with Roberta and I. This Thursday at 6 p.m. at Woodland Brookshire Park is our rescheduled Rhythms and Reels featuring Kingpin Posse. And next Tuesday, we will not be here at City Hall, but Roberta and I will both be participating at our annual National Night Out at Ward 2. Time permitting, I will also stop by Rotella Park for the Adams County Sheriff's Office National Night Out. I attended it last year when I was running for council, and it was a super great event. Speaking of Adams County, the Adams County Fair starts tomorrow and goes through Sunday. I plan on visiting over the weekend, maybe during the week as well. I also posted on my official page the shuttle locations for the, there are four shuttle locations that folks can take the shuttle and not have to pay for parking. And I believe three of the locations are in Thornton. So take a look at my webpage and find out where they're at. And also, Saturday marks the sesquicentennial of our great state. I celebrated it early yesterday as I traveled to Strasburg to welcome home the Union Pacific Big Boy 4014. They are finishing up a nationwide tour in commemoration of our nation's 250th birthday. The last whistle stop is in Greeley early tomorrow afternoon. So, most importantly, I am engaging and responding to neighbors and their concerns by working with our staff. And as Mayor Pro Temayala mentioned, her and I did meet with staff here in City Hall with Luz about the situation that she's been dealing with at Pine Lakes Ranch for the last year or so. I will say, you know, I've been knocking doors in Pine Lakes Ranch last year in my council race, and also I've been knocking in Pine Lakes Ranch this year, knocking for other candidates. And Respectfully, I have not heard any other complaints from neighbors about what she's dealing with. I have not heard from any of those folks. And I have given those folks my cards, my neighbors, to let me know if there's any concerns that they can reach me. And to this day, I've not heard from any of them. So we have done, Mayor Pro Temal and I have met with her and met with staff to try and resolve the situation that she's dealing with. I thank all of our neighbors who spoke to us this evening. Public Speaks is the foundation of our democracy and republic. And that's all I have. Thank you.

Council Member Salazar. Thank you. Every single day, residents across our city reach out to us for help like Maria. They call about a broken water main, try to navigate a housing permit, or look for instructions during a severe weather warning. But for thousands of our neighbors who have limited English proficiency, these basic interactions turn into insurmountable brick walls. Right now, our city handles a language act access on ad hoc basis. Departments do the best they can, but relying on formal translation or goodwill isn't a strategy. It leads to delayed services, miscommunication during emergencies, and frankly leaves our city out of alignment with federal Title VI civil rights guidelines. We can and must do better. I'd like to see the city someday soon have a full language access plan. A municipal language access plan is an official city policy that provides free translation and interpretation services to help residents with limited English proficiency communicate with the government. The plan sets rules for city staff, creates guidelines for translate public documents and ensures equal access to city problems. Our city already does, or our city does make an effort to provide information in Spanish, but there are many residents who do not speak English or Spanish. This will be a big lift, but it won't happen unless we take action now. So I'm introducing a motion that directs staff to present some preliminary findings about the current state of language access in Thornton. to the council in a future planning session the preliminary findings should cover number one the number of portion of limited english proficient residents living in our city number two the frequency with which these residents come into contact with our different departments number three the nature and importance of our services ensuring we prove prioritize life safety emergency response and critical public resources first. Number four, the cost and resources available so we can deploy cost-effective solutions like shared translation contracts and modern technology without wasting taxpayer dollars. And following this planning session presentation, the Council will be able to come to consensus on the best course of action for creating a language access plan policy, and I move for its immediate approval.

Point of information. Second. Is this being requested right now?

I'm asking that they bring it to any planning session. There's a motion on the floor and it's been seconded.

There could be discussion, correct?

Well, the motion on the floor is a point of information where I'm asking, is this being pushed right now? Is this being asked of for the council right now?

Put a motion on the floor.

Then I would call that it's a point of order and that this is not the time or place to be introducing motions at this time.

Point of order. I don't think that is something that you can call point of order on when there's a motion and a second on the floor.

The point of order is that you enforce the rules of procedure, so that's what I'm asking here.

You know, it is not a violation of your rules of procedure. Council members have in the past made a motion to direct staff to take certain actions, and so certainly council can vote on this tonight. It is not adopting anything. It is directing staff to look into something and bring it back to you at a planning session.

There's been a motion on the floor, and it's been seconded. Can we please pull the council, or is there any other discussion?

No, there's other...

Councilor Martinez?

Yeah, I think this is quite relevant tonight considering we had Ms. Peñado come in once again. You know, I'm actually grateful that the staff has been able to accommodate Ms. Peñado over the years. Luce has come in, or not years, but over the year, Luce has come in and it was very challenging. We didn't have anybody to translate Now that we're using the language line, I think that's a step in the right progress. But speaking to Council Member Salazar's motion, I think it's needed to prioritize this on our agenda to make sure that we come up with a further, more comprehensive plan when it comes to meeting the needs of our residents who don't speak english as their primary language i know in particular there's one community in ward one that has struggled in many different instances uh to com to receive and interpret communication from the city rockview terrace is a community that has a large percentage of Afghan refugees. And the city has made contact with them through traditional, all the different points of communication that we have, most of those being in English and Spanish. So I've had conversations with some of those residents about the problems and the friction that's happened by those residents not having proper language translation for them. And so I think that merits investigating a much larger, you know, initiative on how we can help our residents who don't speak English, may not speak Spanish, to determine how many of them there are, where they live. And, you know, these people have the same rights that we all have as residents of Thornton. And I think that having that equal access to communication is a way that we can better serve them. So yeah, absolutely second that. Just to clarify the way I interpreted the motion was to direct staff to prioritize this in a future planning session. So to get this on a planning session agenda, as soon as we We can. And I fully believe in that because we saw an example tonight. I hear it all the time from Rockview Terrace. And I'm sure there's many other communities out there who have the same challenges. We don't know what we don't know. And until we prioritize this and make an effort understand where the cracks are and where people are being left out when it comes to communicating with the city. I think that's the first step to solving this problem and better serving our residents.

Our city attorney has asked to speak.

Thank you again. I want to give a little more full answer to council members birds question. It's true that council recently updated its policy and has a policy that new items are brought forward at at planning sessions and they receive typically then council direction if. Council wants more information on that. However, there is nothing that would preclude a motion to direct staff to do this at a regular council meeting. We do not want, though, a full-on... I mean, certainly the motion can be discussed, but we would need to notice this issue up if we were going to have a full-on discussion of the merits of such a program. So I think certainly the motion can be discussed and it can be brought at a regular meeting, but again, it's just directing staff. And if we were ever to adopt a policy like this, it would need 24 hours advance notice and further preparation. Does that make sense? And if you have questions on that, please let me know.

Yes, so should we continue? Because I have like a line of people that want to speak. Should I continue that? Sure, council can speak to the motion. Okay, so... Direct staff to do further study. Okay, great. Thank you. Council Member Acunto.

I'd like the motion to table this discussion. Second.

Now... Okay, this is where I get messed up. We have a bunch of motions on the floor now. So we had a motion on the floor to direct staff.

I think that's an alternative motion that was just made, and so you can take that and vote on that first. If that fails, we would go back to the main motion.

There's been a motion on the floor to table the discussion or the first motion. Can we pull the council? Yes, if there's no discussion.

There is discussion.

Okay, let's discuss the second motion now.

Point of order for a motion to table. It's not amendable. It's not debatable. It's passed by a simple majority.

I think you can take comments on the motion, but then the vote is appropriate on that.

So comments, not discussion. Council Member Martinez?

Point of information, what's the difference between comments and discussion?

Very little.

Okay. All right, now my comments are that I think this is a relatively small ask, and I don't see any reason to table it when it's pretty simple that we're just asking to, I mean, the motion is just asking to put something on a planning session agenda.

Council Member Salazar?

Yes, when I did my training over a year ago, I asked that we put the flyers that the city set out at Rockview Terrace to be done in other languages. I remember one of the families worried about their children being picked up by the policy because, by the police, because they were sent a letter that the children Interpreted that they needed to be in by 8 o'clock. I have known for many years that there has been this problem And I was vastly ignored and that's why I'm asking for this language access plan.

Okay. Excuse me, madam mayor I would like to chime in so that is the debate on the the original motion that just happened and So currently before you you are correct.

You have a motion to table councilmember akunto is correct It is not debatable So you need to go ahead and take a vote on the motion We do a poll poll the council on the second motion, which is a motion to table the first motion correct Council please cast your votes Motion failed to receive a majority three to five your honor Is there any other discussion on the first motion And there does not have to be that that issue can be brought up totally optional to not discuss this further Can we please pull the council on the first motion which is a motion to put on a planning session agenda that we discuss language Greater plan

Council please cast your votes Motion passed by a majority vote five to three your honor Thank you.

Is there any other comment from councilmember Salazar for the evening? You have two minutes and 57 seconds Okay, thank you. Council Member Martinez.

Okay, thank you. Well, threw me off on the whole comment. So I just want to say that one of the meetings that I attended just recently that I think is worth discussing is the NATO meeting from last week. We heard a great presentation from CTIO, which is formerly known as the High Performance Transportation Enterprise. They presented a little bit about their background and their successes. CTIO is a part of the, it's the Colorado Transportation Investment Office, I believe, and their main role, which they were established in 2009, was to serve CEDAW when it comes to private, public-private partnerships. They have an essential role in the tolling systems that we have and making sure that those projects get funded and also they manage the funds that we collect revenue from with the tolling systems on I-25. I believe it's also the mountain corridor. all segments of I-25. So that was very helpful to understand, but to know that they play such a critical role in helping Thornton's I-25 infrastructure in particular. I'd really love to ask my colleagues on council to follow the CTIO process whenever you get a chance. When we advocate and we go to those meetings or when we call in and make comment, that is another opportunity to give us a voice for Thornton. They determine through their board and the Transportation Commission what happens with the revenue collected from those certain tollways. One of them being that big segment of I-25 that goes right through Thornton. And often those funds can be used to be reinvested in infrastructure projects within the city of Thornton. So if we don't go over there and make our voice known as Thornton representatives, then we are... potentially missing out on opportunities to get some of that money because CTIO makes these decisions statewide. Now there is some precedent out there that they're supposed to keep the money that they collect within the segments, reinvest them within those segments. However, that's not set in stone. And over the last year, we've heard conversations and regionally and among Adams County that those That policy might you know be flexible which would mean that the money that our residents and our business Owners pay as they go on the tollway of I-25 in the express lanes could leak out of our region and so if we don't have a strong voice and advocate to this board and to this committee then we are at risk of losing those funds so that is my My appeal to the council, my pleading is to follow what CTIO is doing and keep them front of mind because it's an opportunity for us to really keep that money that we all pay into those tolls. There's also a very interesting discussion at that NATO meeting about the RTD plan. And people have been watching. You may have heard that RTD is talking about making some major changes to their service plan in the coming year. Now one thing I want to mention is RTD has not made a final decision. So you might have heard on the news or social media that RTD is getting rid of the 16th Street's free bus ride or practically eliminating Broomfield's transportation. That actually has not been decided yet. So don't worry, it hasn't happened yet. But once again, that decision is on the table for RTD. So they're looking at anywhere between a five to, I believe, 15% reduction in service in order to make sure that RTD remains financially viable in the future. And so it's a grim look, and unfortunately, just Like the same conversation we had with Adams 12 and school closures, it's something that's necessary for our TD to stay solvent. And we're going to have to be at the table when it comes to the discussion of what services to cut. Because we don't want to lose out. If Broomfield is out there advocating to keep their service, that percentage still has to be cut. We don't want those subsequent potential cuts to come our way in Thornton. so again this is an appeal not just to the council but to anybody out there who's listening rtd is an elected board you have a right to speak at their meetings you have a right to advocate for transportation in your community so one reach out to your rtd director adams county just appointed a new rtd director for one of the thornton areas and we also have another uh outgoing director as well um troy apologies i can't remember the new appointee at the top of my head but um please reach out to these uh appointees are to the rtd board members uh let them know that we need to protect our public transit in thornton so uh very important i think meaningful nata meeting uh that's all i really wanted to update with everybody uh so again

keep transfer transportation in your mind and don't forget to advocate for thornton whenever you get a chance thank you um there's a few announcements or reminders i have today the city is currently advertising for planning commission and board of adjustments for ward 2 and ward 3 deadline is july 31st Thornton Active Adult Board for Ward 2, the deadline is August 8th. Thornton Arts, Sciences, and Humanities Council Board of Directors for Ward 2, deadline is August 20th. Parks and Open Space Advisory Commission, Wards 1 and 3, deadline is August 21st. Building Code Advisory Board, Ward 1, the deadline is August 25th. And the Election Commission, Ward 2, deadline is August 25th. So there's a lot of opportunities. For folks to get involved in the community in a bigger way, if they'd like to, via our boards and commissions here in the City of Thornton, the deadline for all of those are at 5 p.m. on the dates I gave you. Tonight, for my Council of Commons, I just want to mention that we have been putting a lot of work on our city staff. Recently, we've had a lot of new items come up. I have discussions with our city manager and... other council members, and we're definitely putting a lot forward right now to get things done for the city, but my major concern is that when we continue to do this, I have seen in my years working in different places, different organizations. I've been a school teacher. I've worked for labor unions. And when I see leadership where you're telling everybody yes and trying to prioritize everything, you can't get anything done. You have to be able to actually have a strategy. And we do have a strategic plan. So I would like to task the council just in your heart and mind to think about the workers in our city that are being tasked with these different asks every time we have a meeting because it is a hard ask to give more work on top of the work that we've already given. I think we've had a couple of asks tonight. We've had numerous asks over different planning sessions. We've had a lot of hot button issues come up this year with flock, data centers, different things that are definitely important to our community. But how we approach the work is really important and how we ask our staff to approach the work is even more important because as leaders in this city, we need to make sure that we're looking at the prioritization of what matters to the residents of Thornton. And when we are continuously putting new items up to be at the priority of the planning session, we're moving a bunch of items back. So there's only so much our staff can do. There's only so much time that we can sit in a chair. And one of my favorite sayings from a principal I worked with many years ago, it's pretty funny, the brain can only handle what the butt can endure. So when we're sitting in these meetings and we're hearing longer or having more and more agenda items, the quality of work we put into it in our decision making gets lower. The quality of work that our staff can do when we pile on more work then it's going to get to the point where we have to hire consultants to do the work because we don't have enough staff and we don't have enough hours in the day for folks to get that stuff done. And brain work is difficult too. Our city staff, many of them do have office jobs, but if you know labor patterns throughout the world, Japan has some of the highest rates of suicide and mental illness with workers who are overworked in offices. So I'm just asking that as a council, we just take that into consideration of like what we can do to make sure that we're prioritizing the work for our residents because everybody has concerns. Everybody wants safer streets. They want less surveillance. They want things that are fair to our community. But as council members and as leaders, we have to think strategically about how we prioritize different ideas that we're bringing to our city staff. And so I'll leave it with that because I know it's a lot. But again, thank you to our city staff that helped us with our cleanup this last week. That was an ask that we had asked about a while ago. And it was great to see community members in the community cleaning up and being part of the solution That was just really rewarding for me, but I know it was also rewarding for them, and it was also rewarding to the open space that we all treasure, and so I really appreciate the work that our staff put into that, and the work that our community put into that, and so I'll leave it at that for tonight. Thank you. Number 10 is quasi-judicial public hearings, and there are no public hearings this evening. Next, we have legislative public hearings. Item 11 is a legislative public hearing. um and oh there are no legislative public hearings tonight there's item item 11a is a public hearing concerning a resolution approving the and authorizing submission submission of the 2026 annual action plan and the associated projects for community development block grant funding and yeah just because here we don't have i don't have that on here oh the hearing is opened at 8.24 p.m. and Cheryl Steinberg, Grant and Housing Supervisor, present this item. And please state your name, address, and whether you have been sworn in. And if not, please respond to the clerk as she gives the oath.

My name is Cheryl Steinberg. I'm the Grant and Housing Supervisor of the City at 9481 Dorothy Boulevard. I have not been sworn in.

Can we ask the clerk, do we swear everybody in right now? Is that the way it usually works?

You don't need to swear in for a legislative public hearing, which is what this is.

Oh, okay. I just had some of my scripts. Thank you.

Well, good evening. I'm here today to go over the 2026 annual action plan. And to do that, I'll be reviewing the consolidated plan, the public involvement that we received for that plan, then I'll present the recommendations for the projects and activities for that plan. And then if there's any questions or comments, are welcome. So we have a five-year consolidated plan, started in 2025, it'll end in 29, Each year, we're to produce an annual action plan to show exactly where funds will be going. In that con plan, we have affordable housing as identified needs, public services, and public facilities. And CDBG is originally designed as a brick and mortar type of grant to communities. And HUD does have a list of eligible types of projects that can be funded. In those needs, we identified these goals, these six goals, I'm sorry. Rehabilitate owner-occupied units, increase and preserve obtainable housing units, expand home ownership opportunities, expand or improve public facilities and infrastructure, provide homeless prevention and supportive services, and increase public services support. The public involvement that we received was extensive This was a year-round process, and it combined with the Housing Choice Team and our strategic plan and spots. So we consulted 24 organizational partners throughout the year, presented and or interviewed council planning commission and staff, organized the fall resource fair at Pine Lakes, and received quite a bit of information from residents there. staffed booths at Harvest Fest, Farmer's Markets, Winter Fest, and so forth. Met with homeowner, home development, home developers, I should say, and the related associations. And we did a Housing Choice Open House, a CDBG public input meeting, Fair Housing Resource Fair, where we had 14 different housing resource partners come to table that event. We did a 30-day comment period, and we did receive one comment this year from a eighth grader named Oscar from Holstrom Middle School, saying that he believed the city should change their grass-laden property with more drought-tolerant and drought-resistant landscaping. And so I was able to respond to him. The current programs we already have With that, I think it's a great idea, and our CDBG funds actually do help with that through the Code Compliance Assistance Program, because any disturbed ground is replanted with water-wise landscaping. The public hearing is today, so we'll see if there's any comments today. And then we also made sure to incorporate the five publicly presented and formally adopted city and regional plans, such as the Housing Needs Assessment, the strategic plan, our master plan, our comprehensive plan, Dr. Kha's regional plan, and so forth. So all the input we digested down to what CDBG can address. So there are eight of these. It's high and increasing costs for everything basically, taxes, insurance, food, water, and housing. It's becoming very difficult for residents shortage of housing missing middle higher density housing uh... micro housing and senior housing extreme needs for emergencies housing funds for rented mortgage assistance immediate shelter not enough physically accessible housing for residents to agent place safely the need for smaller and more affordable inefficient homes and that's both for sale and rent need for more community education on housing and affordable housing, need for increased home ownership with varied designs and flexibility, especially for the missing middle housing, need for development incentives like fee reductions, financial support, density bonuses, predictable application processes, and so forth. So we took all this in and drafted the annual action plan And some general information about the annual action plan you need to know. The city receives fund every year from HUD through the CDBG program, Community Development Block Grant program. And this year we received $766,847, about 45,000 less than in 2025. HUD does put limits on what can be funded. Public services, for example, only 15% of the total grant amount can go to public services. Only 20% can go to city administration. Our program year starts October 1st, goes to September 30th, so it's going to start in a few months here. All recommended activities do meet our national objectives to meet with HUD requirements, and three goals are identified in the comp plan will be addressed with the 2026 annual action plan. and we must get this submitted by August 16th to HUD. The annual application process is we solicit applications. Eight applications were received, one needed to withdraw. Staff then reviews and scores each application, and we base it on five categories, the activity, the agency, the capacity, finances, and timelines. Staff recommends funding amounts based on city needs, goals, administration abilities, HUD guidelines, and past experiences. So on the following table, I wanted to kind of prep you for this. We do have this, it is based on the scoring I previously mentioned. We do utilize the best practice of minimizing the city's risk so that we stay compliant with HUD regulations. Lower scores are the better scores on this table. And the highest that could be is 169, which would be just horrible. But we're looking for the lower score is a better score. And then please remember that 15% limit we have on public services. So let's take a look at this colorful, colorful graph table, I should say. First column is applicants. Second column is what kind of application it was. Was it public service? Was it housing? We did not receive any public facilities applications this year. The description of the project is the third column, the score it received by order of best to worst score, funding requested by the applicant, what we're recommending for funding, and how many people will be assisted. So the homeless outreach team is the one that received the best score. They provide homelessness assistance. They've asked for $121,000, and they can receive and we're recommending they receive $115,027, and that's the full 15% for public services. Then code compliance came in second. This is yard code compliance, so if you're gonna get a code violation or if you've already received one, this helps with dangerous tree removal, fence replacement, and junk and waste removal from the yard, All of this is free to the resident. Also, this amount, $400,700, pays for the full-time staff person to run it, and it will assist 30 households. A Precious Child is a public service program. It did rank very well. Passed for $40,000, but unfortunately, we're out of the public service funds at this point. The Senior Paint-a-thon Program came in fourth. This was submitted by Brothers Redevelopment. It is for exterior home painting for seniors Disabled residents it is free to the resident $50,000 of what they requested to assist 11 households, and that's what we're recommending then the next three project angel heart and almost home and Reaching hope all applied really did pretty well in the scoring But unfortunately unlike the other we're out of public facility or public service funds to fund them then the last row is in the housing column because housing does not have a limitation by hud and we had some funds that we wanted to set aside for a future project an eligible project according to hud that is identified in our housing strategy when it's completed because that's already underway and that could be this could be accessible dwelling or accessory dwelling units uh program establishment it could be a match to a grant Application to prop 123 for down payment assistance it could be many things, but until we get a good strategy and plan We wanted to hold those funds back If for any reason these don't get into one of those programs they can be put into the home rehab programs We have that currently exists So just to summarize the funding would go to code compliance paint-a-thon a future housing project and the Homeless Outreach Team, and Grant Administration for the City. So, doing a quick summary, we're meeting three and maybe four of the goals identified in the Consolidated Plan. Increase and preserve affordable housing units, improve existing owner-occupied units, perhaps we'll be able to expand home ownership opportunities, And then we're gonna be able to provide supportive services for homelessness through HOT. Staff does recommend adopting the 2026 annual action plan resolution as provided.

Any questions or comments? Does council have any questions or comments at this time? Okay. if there are no further questions from the council i'll open the hearing up for public comment is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak but did not sign up to speak about the resolution okay thank you just in just a moment each oh no we don't have any folks that'll do that um let's see here Clerk so nobody else has any questions. I think now we can pull the council. Is that correct?

Oh Yes, we would take a motion first.

Yeah, we have to take a motion first. I'm sorry I haven't done one of these yet. So a little actually you need to close a public hearing if there are no cow Yep, so the clue is since there aren't any other questions or public comment We'll close the hearing at I'll entertain a motion on item 11A, and it looks like we have Devin introducing that motion. Councilmember Byrd? Or 11B? Oh, it was Justin, I'm sorry. Councilmember Martinez? 11A, yep, sorry.

All right. I would like to introduce a motion approving and authorizing submission of the 2026 Annual Action Plan and the Associated Projects for Community Development Block Grant funding. And I move for its approval. Second.

The motion has been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Now the clerk can pull the council. Mayor Pro Temayella, I'd like to... Oh, sorry, sorry, Martinez, sorry.

So first of all, I would just like to say thank you to Cheryl and her team and everybody in Community Connections who's worked on this project. Every year you all do a fantastic job. I know how difficult, well, actually, I can only imagine how difficult it is to navigate Department of HUD grants. You know, we had the opportunity to meet with HUD appointees and HUD administrators, and the lay of the land is pretty difficult. The grants are shrinking, the needs are growing. It's a very difficult position to be in, and I think the plan that you and your team put forward is really gonna serve the people of Thornton well. I'm always appreciative to the CDBG program. The money that we get from the federal government is some of the most effective ways that we can help our community. This block grant gives us the flexibility to use the money and the priorities that the council has decided. And so this is, again, for those listening and just learning about CDBG, these are a great way for us to spend federal dollars where we need it most.

that align with our priorities so thank you Cheryl thank you to the team that worked on this and of course I will be supporting this okay are there any other council members that have that would have any discussion on item all right thank you for bringing this forward for us can you please pull the council council please cast your votes

Motion passed unanimously, Your Honor.

Thank you. Item 11b is a public hearing concerning the revoking and reassigning the city's 2024 and 2025 private activity bonds and authorizing the assignment of the city's 2026 private activity bonds. The public hearing is open at 839, and we don't have the, I'm sorry, Jessica Prosser is going to be presenting this for us.

and i guess we don't have to do all the other stuff so thank you sure good evening mayor pro tem and council i'm here to talk a little bit about private activity bonds i'm going to do just a quick overview of the recommendations i'm going to address item 11b1 through 11b3 in my presentation and then you all can vote on the resolutions individually after i go through those i am going to skip ahead just as a reminder Private activity bonds are tax-exempt municipal bonds. They can go to a myriad of things. We're recommending them for looking at things like affordable housing incentives, as well as first-time homebuyer and down payment assistance programs. So I'm going to skip ahead. We went through the presentation last week about specific projects, and that is all in your backup. So I'm going to move first towards the 2020 program. for reassignment of the allocation Part of this is a timeline piece where we want to make sure these bonds are utilized and utilized in the city of Thornton as much as possible. So we'll reassign about 6.5 million to the Dawson Square Affordable Housing Rehabilitation Project. And as we talked about last week, the balance of the 2.5 million will go to CHFA for affordable housing assistance, which includes down payment assistance. So that's the reallocation of what the 2024 is. Moving into 2025, that recommendation is to reassign about 6 million to Make our housing partners for the June grass senior affordable housing development and reassign the remaining of 2025 about 3.4Million to make our housing for future affordable housing with conditions. We went over those conditions. They're also included in your backup as well as this presentation. And then finally. The 2026 allocation. Um, as directed by council last week, about 4Million of it will go to the Cheryl would senior housing development. And the additional 6Million will go to maker housing partners for future affordable with those same restrictions as we have for the 2025 private activity bond allocation as well. And as we discussed last week, it's such time that there's not an eligible project. identified in the city of thornton for these bonds to go to that could then be re those bond cap can be reassigned to chaffa at that time for down payment assistance as a reminder as we discussed last week staff will also be pursuing the prop 123 down payment assistance program as well which is a little bit of a better incentive for residents so with that i'm going to take any questions that i can help answer before you all move to voting on the resolutions

Thank you. Are there any council members that have any questions at this time for staff? Ms. Surgeon, do we have anybody signed up to speak in favor or opposition to the proposed resolution?

Nobody has signed up to speak in support of or in opposition to the resolution.

Is there anybody in the audience who would like to speak that did not sign up? Okay. I will ask Council Member Bird to... Oh, yeah, I have to close the hearing.

It's not even on here.

I'll close the hearing at 8.43 p.m. And I will ask... I will entertain... Actually, let's see. I will entertain the motion on

item 11 b1 thank you madam mayor pertin i would like to introduce a resolution revoking and reassigning the city's 2024 private activity bond allocation to maker housing partners for the benefit of related affordable llc and colorado housing and finance authority pursuant to the colorado private activity bond ceiling allocation act and i ask for its approval second so moved

The motion has been moved and seconded. Is there anybody who would like to speak on the motion?

I would like to say that I'm excited to see that a lot of the money is going towards first-time homebuyers. I think this is a great credit that's going to help some of our citizens out through the communities and be able to get into the homes for the first time. Growing up, I know how important this is to families, as my family had to do a similar program when I was younger. So I'm excited to see that cities will be able to help families out do this.

Councilman Martinez?

Yeah, agreed. These private activity bonds are going to serve our residents well. And I just want to, you know, express some gratitude for the fact that we even have these as an option for financing. They allow, not only can they be used for first-time homebuyers, but they can also be used in the the plan that we have will be used to help finance affordable housing projects. And more often than not, those types of lower interest rate, lower cost forms of financing are what make affordable projects even possible. And so I'm glad that we have those things. You know, this is authorities given to us by the state. And I would just like to advocate to my state legislature representatives that this is a vital lifeline for affordable housing development in our city and that this is something that we should fight for when it's time to look at another round of budget cuts at the state capitol so just remember you know to the state legislators that this is a important financing tool for affordable housing and also at the federal level there was discussion not too long ago of removing tax exempt bonds which would have affected these private activity bonds effectively taking away this entire program across the nation. Luckily, that didn't happen, but that doesn't mean it won't be on the chopping block next year. So it's another reason why we have to follow what's going on at the federal, state, and local level, because it has a direct impact on the livelihood of our neighbors, friends, and families. So I'm just glad that we have those, and of course, I'm going to be supporting the plan.

Council Member Algean?

Thank you, Madam Mayor Pro Tem. Cheryl and Jessica, great presentations this evening. It's a great thing about being up here, learning new things every single day, learning what private activity bonds are. I've really been nerding over that this month. Even with my health situation, it really kept my mind off things and really helped me. focus and pay attention, you know, how important these are to especially to residents and neighbors that definitely need to get into affordable housing and give them the opportunity to do so. And, um, like Councilman Martinez said, I'll be definitely advocating my friends in the in the state ledge and also the statewide electeds to ensure this program continues. And with that being said, I am honored to support all three of the measures this evening. Thank you.

okay um i'm do you have to read the other one too no okay um can we pull the council please for the first council please cast your votes point of information do we need to read the resolution first i don't think it was done yet

My apologies, stand corrected. Apologies to council.

Mashem passed unanimously, your honor.

Point of information, does each resolution need to be read, each separate one?

Yes, you need an individual motion with the title read.

Okay. I'll entertain a motion for resolution 11, you did 11A, 11B?

I'd like to ask a resolution 11 B to a resolution revoking and reassigning the city's 2025 private activity bond allocation to maker housing partners and to make your housing partners for the benefits of Walter and pursuant to the Colorado private activity bond ceiling allocation act and ask for its approval. 2nd.

The motion has been moved and seconded. Are there any council members that like to discuss? Well, I'll allow Council Member Byrd to go first.

I like the similar one before. The one thing I would wish that we could have for the 2025 and 2026 would be the first-time homebuyer credit. But I do like the fact that we're going to be helping out with our senior living assistance. And I think that's going to be a great benefit. So I will be definitely voting for this.

Is there anybody else who'd like to speak? Clerk, can you please pull the council? Council, please cast your votes. Motion passed unanimously, Your Honor. Thank you. Does every other resolution number underneath need to be read, too, or is that? Okay. Yeah, you need to do three next. Right. So resolution B1. 11B3. Right. I'll entertain a motion on that.

I'd like to introduce a resolution authorizing the assignment of the city's twenty twenty six private activity bond allocation to make your housing partners for the benefit of related affordable LLC and make your housing partners for the benefit of router Walton. Pursuant to the Colorado private activity bond ceiling allocation act and I ask for its approval second.

Is there any council comment on the next resolution? Council Member Burge, you have the floor to talk first.

No, I would second my comment for number two as well.

Okay, thank you. Is there any other council comment? Clerk, can you please pull the council? Council, please cast your votes.

Motion passed unanimously, Your Honor.

Thank you, and now we'll entertain a motion on 11B3. Or was it three? Okay, we're finished, huh? All right, next we have number 12. We have staff reports. And the first one is from our police department public safety report.

Good evening mayor pro tem and council. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today and give you a brief update on some public safety initiatives from the law enforcement side. Start off with our 1st slide is something you're very similar to similar to a prior presentation. Lower numbers are better. I'm going to talk about three of these lines. You'll see that most of these numbers have been fairly consistent with previous several quarters. One thing that we did see a pretty significant drop in recently is vehicle theft. That's down 20% from last quarter, but if you look at a couple quarters before that, you can see it's about half of what some of those were. The big outlier on this one, obviously, is that first line. It's been a Uh, we've had 8 homicides in the 1st, 2 quarters of 2026. Unfortunately, 6 of these have been familial related and half of those occurred in a single incident. I'm going to talk a little bit more on the next slide about some upcoming initiatives that had actually been previously mentioned by council member Martinez. You'll see an additional line on here at the end. We've been asked to give some information regarding overdoses in the city. This is a challenging thing to quantify for a couple of reasons. One is that There's different responses based on whether this is something that we get sent on with fire, whether it's something that one of us is handling individually, whether it's something that is occurring at a hospital, or in addition to that, whether it's a fatal overdose or another kind. So we have a couple of different, we're experimenting with a couple of different things to get some of this information across to you. And this is the first is our Narcan deployments. So we do track those. these are just to be real clear these are the ones that are specific to what uh the police department is administering it doesn't have anything to do with what chief kelly and his team is doing i think they're looking into if they are able to add anything to this data as well but it is a little bit of a challenge and and like i said before but the big thing right now is just we've had six familial homicides in the in this first half of the year which is very good timing. The Family Justice Center, which has been previously mentioned, is anticipated to be open by the fourth quarter. I talked to the district attorney, Mason, at a meeting last week. He's hoping for it to be open during Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October, but we're not sure if that's going to happen. If not, we don't anticipate it'll be long after that. But essentially, this is a one-stop shop for people, all different types of services. You can see several of them listed here, but it's very individually. Individual needs assessment is done to talk about safety planning, legal support, housing information. We also, along with the police chief in Westminster, are chairing a committee of law enforcement executives in the 17th just to talk about what type of involvement each of our police departments is going to have. staffing this and right now we just don't know what that model is going to look like but everybody is universally on board to be supportive of that. And then I have this slide on here to build on what we talked about before with the overdose deaths. So deaths are categorized by the coroner in one of four different ways. And accidental, I'm sorry, five, undetermined is kind of an unknown in a way. Accidental suicide and homicide and and other than that it's natural So these are all of the non-natural deaths that have occurred in the city of Thornton limits in the last three years for just talking about last year we had 775 total deaths in the city and What you'll see here is some consistency as it relates to suicide a little Homicide can jump around and that can mean a few different things. In 2024, some of those were actually related to officer-involved shootings. So just because something's listed as a homicide doesn't necessarily mean that it's a crime. And so that's a piece of it that can be a little different because the coroner's office is not looking at it through that same lens. But what I'd like to point out in regards to the overdoses, overdoses are generally captured in that accidental category, that first one. And in this particular, in this last year in 2025, roughly half of those accidental deaths were overdose related. We do have one of the undetermined just because there was a little bit of question whether something, whether an overdose was accidental or intentional. And so if they can't name something in one of the clearly in one of the two categories, then that's when it lands in the undetermined category. Our typical traffic update we have we'll get into the Automated stuff in us and another slide here, but this is what the officers are actually doing Hands-on out on the road you can see we had a little bit of a dip this quarter, but numbers are still good that's related to a gap of one vacancy in our traffic unit and they do a lot of the traffic enforcement is done by the traffic unit and We also have several officers that are in training right now, and an office, a unit that is training, if we have an officer training another officer, a lot of times they're trying to expose them to as many different things as possible, just as through the course of the training, and so sometimes they don't spend as much time on traffic. Those numbers continue to be fairly consistent. The automated traffic enforcement data, this has come up a couple times. I'd like to take this opportunity to close a loop on the issue that was brought up by Councilmember Russell at a planning session previously about the calibration of specifically the red light cameras. And I know we had a similar ask this week from Councilmember Algae on the same issue. There's no, our process really addresses any any issues with the technology. And so there's really no calibration that's necessary with the with the camera that as far as actually issuing a ticket when one wouldn't be warranted. And that's because the process that we go through with all the tickets, red light and the speed violations, is that these are submitted to us initially. The initial look at them happens from the vendor. So the vendor looks at it, and in the case of the red light violations, we get a photograph of where the car was. when the light turned red, and if that is before the crosswalk, and then they, without stopping, roll through the turn, that is a violation. The vendor then takes those and submits them to our staff member that's assigned to delve into each of these citations individually. And they will look at it and verify each one before a violation is sent out. So we have a high level of confidence that If somebody received a red light violation, whether it's a straight through or whether it's one of those right turn on Reds that it was a legitimate. Illegitimate violation. Now I will say that we if there are issues that come up, we look at them so far. The ones that have been shared with us by Council have all we verified. Every one of those was a was a valid violation and appropriately cited. But this is the numbers we're looking at. And. This is what we're seeing crash data-wise. So when you're looking at this, 24 and 25 are as a whole. But the white columns are as a whole. The other three are year-to-date equivalents. So when you're looking at 2024, where it says six crashes at 1 20th, that's year-to-date for the first two quarters. So at this point in the year, we are not seeing a significant reduction in crash data at either of these two intersections. However, like I mentioned last time, we also recognize that this was a little bit of an unusual winter in regards to the roadway conditions. We're gonna we're gonna recommend no further no expansion of this program for now until we get a little bit more data. And some of the thing that's informing that in addition to the crash data, this is what we're looking at just the financial piece of the technology. So the cost of our employee right now is about $85,000, and that includes salary benefits. The red light cost expected per contract is $235,000 annually, but we are having a discussion with the vendor right now because we're not totally sure that we're on the same page about what the charges should be. So we're delving into that with our purchasing team here at Thornton. And then you can see the speed vehicle program cost. Those have come with a... A staffing requirement, we have to have staff that drives these out to the location every day and returns them. So that's a cost that kind of a soft cost that we have to factor in as well. So the total annual cost of the program, we expect to be approximately a little north of a half million dollars. Now, year to date, uh, we have that three hundred and eighty nine thousand dollars is the revenue that we've seen now. We didn't roll these out. These weren't all rolled out in January. 1st. There was that incremental process that we went through and the warning period. So we still don't know exactly what, uh, what the end result is going to be or although I do anticipate we will be in the green. If I don't expect it's going to be my much and this is really if that number on the red light cost stays at that number right now if that changes the whole the whole. The whole thing could change so at this point we're not recommending that we expand this program in twenty, twenty seven. You're not going to see anything in my budget recommendation related to expanding the program. We're going to let it ride out for the rest of the year. and just see where we ultimately land, and then we will have a whole year of crash data as well to help inform how effective we think that these units are. And I'm anticipating maybe a question or two on this. No?

Council Member Martinez?

Yeah. Thank you for sharing this automated enforcement data. There's a lot to cover. So my first question is, you know, you're not recommending the expansion of the program because we are uncertain about the data. So you're also, does that mean you are recommending continuing it as is for another year, correct? Correct.

That's correct, yes.

Okay. And then what types of facts or recommendations you know, items will you use to determine, you know, the effectiveness? You said after we get a year of data, you would be able to look at it more closely. So what kind of things would your department

look forward to indicate that there could be some success with this or if maybe the recommendation would be to eliminate the program how would you make that determination so a couple different ways one is we want to ride out the entire year because we want to be able to see several months in a row of the of the crash data And the enforcement, the numbers, we've also had a little bit of an issue with some of the technology, mostly as it relates to the speed vehicles. So they've been down some of the time. We're trying to work some of that stuff out with the vendor. And so, but really what I'm seeing right now is that it's when we look at the crash data itself. So far, we're not seeing significant. Now, you will see if. well, one of those lines had 30 crashes for the entire year. And so those were obviously, that was something that had happened later in the year. So if we see that our current numbers kind of continue to hold, that might be a significant drop. But right now, we're just not seeing it, and so I'd like to give it more time before we would recommend any kind of expansion at all.

Okay, let me see if I understood that right. So you're saying that in 2024, when there were 30 crashes, that was the year you're talking about, right? There were more at the tail end of the year? Correct.

Yeah, those white columns are the entire year, whereas the others are year-to-date.

Okay, okay, that makes sense. All right, then the other question I had was going back to the slides about the the initial slide in the public safety report where you break down those numbers. In particular, I think there's some concern about the higher profile homicide cases like that. I think that you know i'm very grateful that the um family justice center is about to open and i i would hope to see some of those domestic violence related lethal cases you know go down uh that would be the whole objective one of the objectives of the family justice center but for the non-domestic violence cases is there you know any kind of patterns or you know where the people don't know each other Because what I'm hearing from residents is they're worried about random acts of violence, and are there patterns that people should be looking out for when it comes to those things?

I would say no, there's no patterns to these. The remaining two incidents that occurred that were homicides that were not familial in the first two quarters, I don't believe either of those have even resulted in charges because there's some question about whether there was some level of justification. And so that part of it, it's not – the one incident we had, the very first one, was a homeowner when somebody had gone into their home that was defending themselves. And so I don't anticipate charges. I can't say for sure because we don't make those decisions. I don't anticipate charges even being filed in those other two.

Okay. Okay. And then I'm going to – comes to the uh the manner of non-natural death you know accidental you you mentioned a big part of that is overdoses and um i think that there is certainly you know overlap in that community with the people living out on the streets and having a hard time and they're often addicted to drugs um not always but it happens and and it's actually happened in neighborhood where we've had that overdoses on opioids in the in the parks and in the open spaces so my question is about the other side of it when it comes to investigating and prosecuting drug dealing in the city and I'm interested to know more about what Thornton's role is and not just its own enforcement whether when it's low level or organized crime but at the regional level And so how does our department participate in that? And what kind of, you know, are we seeing any positive efforts in fighting that kind of higher level drug trafficking that ultimately leads to overdoses through the supply of drugs like that? Sure.

So, yeah, working our way up locally. Obviously, this is something that occurs whether it's a patrol officer and then our, our investigators would follow through on those incidents. The next level up is our, the North Metro task force. So this is a drug task force that is primarily everything in the North Metro area. They also collaborate with. other similar task forces in the metro area as well, because we have, there's a lot of overlap in these groups. They don't isolate their activity to one specific region. And then on top of that, we also partner with some of our federal partners as well through the DEA, the ATF. And there's a lot of overlap, obviously, between a lot of violent crime and some of the drug dealing that occurs. And we participate in a few other federal task forces. And so there's that nexus as well.

And do you think that that, you know, has our effort been consistent over the last few years that we're talking about? Or have we made more contributions or less? You know, it's just something that I think people want to be reassured that we're investing in that. We want to make sure that we keep the really awful criminals out of our city.

I can say that's absolutely a priority, but I didn't totally follow your question.

I'm just asking, have we put more resources into the North Metro Task Force, or have we seen more of our officers partner with the federal agencies over the last few years? Is this a trend?

I'm not sure if we've seen more. Since I've been here, it's been stable plus one. So we have added, but it's only been one since I've been here, but I can look into that.

Okay. Thank you for answering my question. You're welcome.

Council Member Byrd?

Thanks, Chief. I was going to hold mine to the end, but you opened the door, so I'm going to go ahead and throw mine out for you. I have a couple. One is, with 120th and Colorado being one of our more dangerous intersections, the crash data that we have, do we have any kind of information regarding if that's people rear-ending each other when they're just not paying attention, or if it's running the red lights? people making right turns without stopping and thus getting a ticket and crash?

So when we are talking about the red light cameras, this crash data is, and this is a little bit nuanced, but these are crashes that occur within the intersection. So inside of the stop bar, the crosswalks, in that box. The rear-ending crashes that happen as people are pulling up to that intersection would not be included in these numbers.

And then as far as the automated speeding, I realize that a lot of people are upset by the fact that the random car on the side of the road is catching them. But at the same time, I know that in my neighborhood and in my areas, we have seen a dramatic decrease in speed. So I really appreciate the program.

Thank you. We had talked about maybe bringing a video in, but we didn't want to, in kind of showing what people can see, but we didn't want to put somebody's vehicle out there that's a violation, put it in a public thing. However, Commander Dudley informed me that we probably have a couple squad cars where they've had to pay the ticket, where we could probably use that to show you how it works. Anything else on the automated crash data? Council Member Alge?

Yeah. Thank you, Chief, for the presentation. Great job as always. And also thank you for the quick reply concerning my neighbor and friend who's been, who had a red light camera ticket and dealing with that. And thank you for following up with her about the process. I am glad that we look at it before then we authorize the ticket. But still, it goes to this question, right? You know, we need clarity and consistency. You know, just like in baseball, our home plate empire has their own version of what a strike zone is. We need consistency on how long you're supposed to be stopped at the red light. If it's clear there's no cars coming, how long are you supposed to be stopped before it's – legal to turn. That's really where I'm coming from there is we need that clarity.

The clarity is ceasing motion. Doesn't matter for how long. As long as they cease motion, they're fine.

Okay, sounds good. Excuse me. Also, I also brought a request with the crossing point, what calls were coming in. I know that was an issue, especially when phases 2 and 3 were open. Because those are affordable housing, not 55 plus, that there was a couple of fireworks incidents that took place that one of my friends and neighbors brought up at Robert and I's community cleanup when we had. So. Just want to make sure that we're staying on top of what's going on. Plus, they have a homeless situation that's been ongoing, too. But thank you for bringing that report up. And obviously, we'll get more information. I think they're hosting a National Night Owl on Tuesday, and Roberta and I plan on being there for that. We'll get more information from the neighbors about what's going on. But thank you for your work there.

Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you. And once again, thank you for the reply. I'm done.

Yeah, thank you. I have one question. I know there was a lot of data that was given to us when we had first gotten the, starting the discussion around red light cameras. Do you know, were these two the highest number of fatalities in the city as far as like, They may have been like high crash numbers, but were the fatality numbers the highest as well?

I don't believe so. I think just the fact that there's only one between the two intersections in the previous two years, I'd have to look at that and verify exactly what those highest numbers would be.

Yeah, I'm just curious, because, I mean, it's really awesome that we're at, like, 88th is at zero fatal crashes, which is, you know, for the last, since 2024, we haven't had a fatal crash there. I know we, I remember we had the fatal crash on Thornton Parkway, and I know there's been some other ones, so I'm just curious which intersection has the most fatalities.

i'm happy to look into that i know that a big driving factor for this is that we did we have had some some serious crashes at these intersections and some some of them have been serious but not fatal as well so like serious injury but not fatal yeah yeah so we but we can definitely look into get you i think we actually might even have that canned from a prior um ask so we can definitely look into that maybe that would be good data is like um serious

injury and fatality, because I think the whole intent of getting these cameras was to work on Vision Zero. And just looking at this, I mean, we don't have... This year, we haven't had a fatal crash on Colorado, thank God. But I'm just wondering if there are any other intersections where there might be fatal crashes that maybe, just as we look at this long term, might be a better intersection, if that's what we're looking. I don't know. Just kind of thinking out loud here. But then also, yeah, I think that was my main concern. The thing is, is like serious crashes or serious injury crashes are life-altering as well. So it's not like, you know, oh, you just got in a little crash and you hurt your finger or your leg. It's a lot of times results in traumatic brain injuries, which can alter somebody's life and make them permanently disabled. So those are pretty... Pretty important things to look at as well. So I guess maybe the serious injury.

Yeah, I'm happy to put something together for council. Just kind of a little bit of a more broad look at the city as a whole and what we're seeing.

Thank you. You're welcome. All right. So next we have not quite done yet.

Oh, you're not done. Okay. I'm sorry. We're close though. Uh, e bike update, so you may recall that you played a role in changing our ordinance that went effective on June 10th and we just wanted to give a quick hit about what we're seeing enforcement wise in that 1st month. So the e bike ordinance change we had 10. Summons issued for that in addition to 1 careless driving. And then you may recall that we've also authorized action to be taken against the parents of minors. And so we've done a little bit of that. Two to the parents, five to juvenile riders, and then nine to adult riders. And we have towed nine vehicles, one of which you have a nice photo of on the screen there. The weekly briefing e-newsletter that continues to see increase in subscribers. We have had it slow down a little. So one of the things we're doing, police officers in the city, whether it's on a traffic stop or whether it's on a call for service, they're constantly giving out their business card. to folks to give them the case number or to be able to follow up. So what we did is we had these additional cards made. The photo you see there are the two sides of the same card. So now every time one of our staff members gives out a business card, they're also handing out one of these cards to allow people to sign up for both the e-newsletter and also Thornton Ready. And so this is a way we hope to get those numbers up and get a little more engagement. following a significant events in a neighborhood our CLO team will often walk through the neighborhood and knock on doors and Kind of check in with folks and see you know how they're doing see if they have any additional information We recently did that in a neighborhood that had had a some shots fired. Nobody was hit, but they walked through and Most of the people in that neighborhood weren't aware of either of these Tools that were available to them so they were very appreciative They love seeing us out there, but that's just one of the things we're trying to do to get those numbers up. 83,000 of the emails have gone out this year, and they have over half, over 50% open rate, which is solid. Kylan is doing a great job continuing to keep that data fresh as well.

Council Member Salazar has a question.

National Night Out's coming. Can we take these cards around to all the people that are participating in National Night Out and leave them, and maybe that'll increase them? Sure.

Yeah, that's great. Yeah, that's a great idea. Happy to do that. All right, we're going to try something new here. Okay. Okay. We had a community member come and talk to you all, I think on a few occasions, about a high-low siren as an alternative method to do a notification during significant events. And we kind of took the project back and we had our staff look at it. And what we've learned is that it's a pretty nominal cost if we do this when we build our vehicles. If we were to take all of our existing fleet in and have it done, it's a pretty substantial cost. But if we do this with new vehicles through attrition and replacement, it's really a nothing burger. So basically what we're going to do, we've got them already installed in some cars, 22 patrol vehicles, by the end of this quarter and then we have another 10 that'll be upfitted in 2027 and then the remaining 64 of our patrol cars will be outfitted just as we trip them over which either happens by mileage or in some cases crashes we have to replace them sooner than that But one of the things that this does give us the ability to do is to connect with people that maybe aren't as savvy with some of the tech stuff or in the event of some kind of technical failure or something else. It does give us another option to notify people when something's going on. All right, I'm going to try something new.

A mandatory evacuation order has been issued for this area. Please evacuate immediately. A mandatory...

So that's what it looks like. I assure you it sounds louder than it sounded in here. I don't know if you saw when the video started, but the camera moved. That was me jumping a little bit because I was the video person on that. That's Deputy Chief Reeves Carr, and he's the one that took the video. It's very loud. And so we're going to roll those out. Until we get the entire fleet, we're going to split them between the city just to make sure that we have them spread out. And we'll come up with a policy and training for folks. Whoops. All right. we had our annual youth academy graduation you can see that group of of local youth the graduation was in this room it was a week-long week-long class it's very intense they have a blast i got to spend a little bit of time with with the kids on the first day and the last day and seeing them kind of relax and get into this program during the course of the week was really really cool Sergeant Cushing runs the program with the rest of the youth services unit. They do a fantastic job. And in this room right here, we had for graduation, we had this entire middle section was full of the kids. And then the parents and family members and loved ones filled up every other section and also lined the back wall. It really is an amazing program. The other thing too, they get a little experience with a lot of different aspects of police work. They're very, very much engaged. I think we might have had one injury this year. There was one person, one graduate who attended on crutches. But other than that, it was highly successful. They really, really enjoy it. And frankly, the youth services team just, they live for it. The energy and excitement they have for these kids is really something. Practically speaking it also has another advantage to us the the youth academy is is the feeder program for our Explorer program and our Explorer program has Historically been a feeder program for our officers. We have officers that here here today that will not in this room today Maybe but that work with us now that have been a part of this program So it's it's very very it's something that they feel very passionately about and we continue to get high levels of engagement for it. I That concludes what I came to share today, but I'm happy to answer any additional questions you have.

Does the council have any additional questions? Council Member Russell?

Chief, I just wanted to thank you for charting the information that I made the request in the planning session. It was very helpful, as well as your email response. You looked into it personally and got back to me right away, so I know that we're Being asked to make less asked as of tonight, but you seem to have handled that pretty well. So I really appreciate that. Thank you.

Yes, absolutely Are there any other questions? Okay, thank you Item 12 B is the fire department public safety report and Jason Hollins assistant fire chief will present this item tonight. I

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem, council members. At least this time I don't have to follow a donut. So I got that going for me. So let's see what we got. Again, kind of like I talked about last quarter, one of the things we're still cycling through and figuring out is this new data schema that the federal government released as far as how we report our data. And so there's still a little bit of discrepancy in how I pull some of this stuff and calculate out, but it'll affect some of the other areas here. But as we get more and more of this data, we'll be able to get it even cleaner and potentially look at other ways to report some of this stuff. And there's still new data pieces that are still coming out and haven't even been released to us yet. there will still be some changes over the course of this year as we go through this. But overall, as you can see, our calls are staying relatively consistent quarter over quarter. Again, that fire contained to room of origin is a completely different data point now than it used to be in the old system. So we're still trying to figure out what a good benchmark is for that reading or if there's other ways to measure that. So like I said last time, we went from what was it, 18 versions of structure fires down to four, and they changed how we quantify and measure the amount of loss. As far as calls by district, again, they're staying relatively consistent. We are seeing a little bit more increase up north, and that's to be expected with the growth up there, and still well within our ability to respond to. Unit responses, so this is our first quarter having engine 7, 8 in their district for the for the full quarter. And so we're starting to get some data on how that response responses are going up there. We also, in April, moved Medic 75 out to Station 6 as Medic 76 to improve the response times out on the eastern and northern side where there was very minimal medic unit coverage. So we'll continue to see how that affects our response times and our data as well. Looking at our response times, again, this is one of those areas where trying to pull this data, they're still changing up data on me, so there may be a little bit of inconsistencies from quarter to quarter based on that. Overall, we're seeing the big one there is in District 8. We're seeing those response times increase. As the construction up there improves and the infrastructure and roads and things like that they're working on and closing off sections and opening them, we anticipate that to continue to rise. And just a quick look at this month, we're up at the 90th percentile on that one. So it'll look a lot better as we go forward. uh medic unit coverage again we're looking to see how moving med 75 to district six affects that um i do know that that hundred percent on there is a little off based on the data that challenges we've been having but again we anticipate that the responses out in district six and eight there will continue to improve with relocating that resource so um Couple other updates for you is our wildland teams safely returned from their deployment down to Ouray at the Golden Mountain Fire last week. And so they had a successful deployment down there. And our two members of the Colorado Task Force One USAR team safely returned from deployment down to Texas for the floods. So all of our special teams have come back safely for us.

Council Member Byrd has a question.

Not so much a question, just a comment. On slide two, the fire calls being consistently 60 to 100 there that one last quarter and seeing zero civilian deaths, that's amazing news. And I want to say thank you to all you guys for all the hard work you did. That's great to see that even with that kind of number of issues that nobody's losing life over it.

We appreciate that. And, yeah, that's one of our goals is to keep that number as low as possible. Again, as to repeat Chief Barrett in the previous, lower is better. The last thing I have is I just want to point out to people that although I know we've been getting some moisture recently, fire danger is still high. And so we like to encourage people to make sure you're still being careful and understand that we're still under a severe fire risk at this point. And so don't let the little bit of moisture we've gotten let you guard down. So with that, that completes my quarterly report. And any questions?

Are there any other questions from council? All right, thank you. Okay, our next item is item 13, is consent calendar. Is there any member of the council who would like to remove an item from the consent calendar? Is there a motion to approve the consent calendar as presented?

So moved. Second.

Approval of the consent calendar has been presented and has been moved and seconded. Clerk, can you please read the appropriate titles into the record and pull the counsel?

An ordinance concerning the annexation of approximately 87 acres of land situated in the east half of the west half of Section 5, Township 2 South, Range 67 West of the 6th Principal Meridian, County of Adams, State of Colorado, generally located south of East 120th Avenue and east of Holly Street, and assigning the annex property to Ward 3, Sunrise Annexation. An ordinance approving a zoning amendment with an associated overall development plan and plan development standards for approximately 88 acres of land generally located south of East 120th Avenue and East of Holly Street. Sunrise annexation. An ordinance approving the annexation of eight city-owned parcels of right-of-way along Washington Street at East 152nd Avenue and East 160th Avenue, totaling approximately four acres of land, 152nd Washington ROW annexation. An ordinance approving a zoning amendment for eight city-owned parcels of right-of-way along Washington Street at East 152nd Avenue and East 160th Avenue to zone the property's development reserve, 152nd Washington ROW annexation. An ordinance adopting the third amendment to the 2026 budget amending Section 1 of Ordinance 3751, making appropriations for the City of Thornton, Colorado for the fiscal year 2026 for all funds except that appropriations for the The certain individual project shall not lapse at year end, but continue until the project is completed or canceled. An ordinance amending ordinance 3681 regarding the city council policy for reimbursement of expenses for travel, training, subsistence, and other business expenses. Council, please cast your votes.

The city attorney has to speak.

Yes, thank you. I wanted to correct the record on one item, 11B, 2 and 3 on the private activity bonds. The titles of the resolutions in council's agenda were incorrect. However, the resolutions and the documentation in your packet are accurate. So I want to note that for the record because we will correct those motions in the clerk's minutes because they should have been what is on the resolution in that instance. This packet item was modified up until the last moment, and so there was just a discrepancy between what was on the agenda, which is inaccurate, and the resolutions, which are accurate. So we'll correct those on the record for council if there's no objection.

Is there any objection? Thank you.

Oh, you haven't voted on consent.

I believe everybody voted, so I just need to announce that.

The technology was a little glitchy. It was like just said I voted yes, and I didn't even touch it, even though I was going to vote yes.

I think something happened with the voting system. Okay, thank you. But I do show that the motion passed unanimously.

Okay. Item 14 is action items. There are no action items this evening. Item 15 is adjournment. Being that there's no further business, we'll adjourn the meeting at 9.33 p.m. Thank you.